[T]he Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration found two workplace safety violations while investigating the death of a Vermont state trooper last year but determined that neither of them contributed to his demise.
Trooper Kyle Young, 28, died Sept. 17 after collapsing during a tryout exercise for the tactical services unit of the Vermont State Police, an elite law enforcement unit similar to a SWAT team. He died of heat stroke while completing a rigorous physical test at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho.
VOSHA, which is within the Vermont Department of Labor, opened an investigation into the circumstances the week after Young’s death. Last week, VOSHA and the Department of Public Safety, which includes the Vermont State Police, reached an agreement to put in place a comprehensive safety plan as a result of the probe.
According to a pre-citation settlement document, VOSHA investigator Karl Hayden identified two potential violations of safety standards, but he did not link either to Young’s death.
One violation involved not having ice packs or other cooling devices on hand as part of the first aid kit, given the nature of the activity. The investigator also pointed to the lack of a written respiratory program as a violation, though the document states that the finding was “ancillary” to the investigation into Young’s death.
Hayden’s investigation involved interviews with witnesses and Vermont State Police officials, a review of documents about the tryouts and the incident, and a visit to the site where Young collapsed, according to the document.
Under the agreement, the Public Safety Department will send a draft of a comprehensive safety plan for physical testing to the Labor Department for review by July 1. After the plan is complete, DPS will share documentation of the plan’s implementation with Labor.
If the DPS follows through on the agreement, the Labor Department will not issue any citations.
In a statement on the agreement, Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn said the department is still grieving Young and “hopes that the continued review to improve our protocols will protect our members in the future.”
“The department is committed to reviewing and improving its testing protocols to protect its members to the greatest extent possible,” Flynn said.
He said the department worked with two independent experts to review the protocols. Those two, Dr. Suzanne Elliott and Denise Alosa, both work with the medical team for the Vermont City Marathon.
According to a report released by the DPS shortly after Young’s death, the trooper was the fifth person to do the physical test that day. The temperature was 82 degrees.
Young was climbing a sand hill at the time he collapsed, the penultimate task of a 14-point physical fitness test. At the point when he collapsed, his time was approximately 10 minutes faster than the four other candidates who had already completed the test.
